A series of smoking “performances” that have stormed the state like a Broadway smash hit may be reaching their denouement.

The American Cancer Society has issued its review, calling them a “reckless” endangerment of public health. And backers of Minnesota’s statewide prohibition on smoking in bars and restaurants say the performances make a mockery of the ban and that new legislation may be necessary to close the loophole that allows them to be staged.

“I, as a legislator, am obligated to support the intent of the law,” said Sen. Kathy Sheran, DFL-Mankato, one author of the ban that went into effect Oct. 1. “I would discourage people from doing this, because I think they know it violates the intent of the law.”

Backlash against the performances is to be expected. Using an exception allowing smoking as part of a theatrical production, numerous bars have walked a legal razor’s edge by printing playbills, selling buttons that identify patrons as “actors” and allowing customers to light up.

The idea was hatched by criminal defense lawyer Mark Benjamin, who helped organize the first smoking performance at a Lake Mille Lacs resort. For the “play,” Benjamin — who does not himself smoke — donned a medieval costume and argued that a bunch of patrons smoking in a crowded bar is every bit the artistic endeavor a production of “Les Miserables” would be.

“If theater night is going on in one bar on one night and (people) don’t want to go in, they can go across the street to the other bar,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin’s idea is spreading. Bars from the Iron Range to Maplewood have held performances, and Benjamin has been interviewed by local media outlets, radio hosts from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and a London sports talk radio show.

But the performances also have caught the attention of authorities charged with enforcing the ban. Doug Schultz, a state Department of Health spokesman, said the agency is monitoring the situation but has yet to receive a formal opinion from Attorney General Lori Swanson on whether the performances are legal. There have been no formal complaints, he added.

Others already have drawn conclusions.

“A lot of people are mocking state law,” said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, another architect of the law. “We’re looking at repairing the breach.”

The exception was inserted into the legislation at the last minute, apparently at the insistence of the arts community. What constitutes a theatrical performance was never defined.

Bar owners who have staged “performances” say they have been hurt by the ban and that smoking nights brought back lost customers. Some bars have begun staging performances on most days of the week.

Benjamin sees the issue almost in terms of class warfare — if lawmakers were to close the loophole, he argues, they would be choosing an elite fine arts community over working-class, small-town bars.

“Everybody’s got to have clean indoor air and pink lungs, but nobody’s got any green in their pockets,” Benjamin said, adding that he would like to see an exception for VFW posts and other small bars. “They made a mistake here. People are hurting, and we need to help them.”

The American Cancer Society has been instrumental in passing bans in other states, just as it was in Minnesota. Spokesman Mike Maguire said it’s time for lawmakers to act.

“Their performances are, I think, an exploitation of the intent of the law. And it’s a loophole that we feel needs to be closed,” Maguire said. “It’s reckless to try to make a political point by endangering people’s health.”

The odd thing is, theaters really don’t want cigarette smoke in their buildings. Though smoking can be an integral part of characters in plays by everyone from Oscar Wilde to David Mamet, audiences don’t like it, said Richard Cook, artistic director of St. Paul’s Park Square Theater.

As a result, theaters use strong ventilation systems to draw smoke — even fog — away from the audience. Furthermore, a contract with the Actors’ Equity Association forbids the use of tobacco cigarettes, Cook added. Instead, an herbal substitute is used.

“We don’t want to inflict any of the harmful effects of smoking on our talent,” Cook said.

However, an herbal substitute may violate the ban if the exception is removed. The ban defines smoking as inhaling any lighted “tobacco or plant product” indoors.

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